Transcontinental Railroad In Westward Expansion

During the late 1800’s, many settlers were expanding to the West and the Transcontinental Railroad helped them move from the East to the West. Some wanted to gain 160 free acres of land known as the Homestead Act. The Transcontinental Railroad connected the East and the West. The Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad were the companies that built the Transcontinental Railroad; however, the companies were run by greedy men and felt no guilt as they asked the government to pass special bills for them. The railroad cut through many lands and affected the Native Americans in a perilously way. Furthermore, many resources, such as buffalo were slaughtered and were almost made extinct, and Native Americans lost their land to American settlers, as well as these resources.Therefore, the Transcontinental

The Effects of the Transcontinental Railroad: Native Americans, Society, and Economy The Transcontinental Railroad had a drastic effects on many aspects of life during the 1860s, including society, the economy, and the Native Americans’ way of life. These are just a few of the ways the Transcontinental Railroad changed the world. Native Americans were forced to relocate, society had a new outlook on life, and the economy had been boosted almost incalculably.

The government has many different roles throughout history and today. They had a very different role during westward expansion than today. Capitalism is a mostly non controlling government so you would have a lot of freedom and choice.The proper role of government is support the growing country and to spread capitalism.

The Tremendous Impact of Railroads on America In the late 19th century, railroads propelled America into an era of unprecedented growth, prosperity, and convenient transportation. Prior to the building of the railroads, America lacked the proper and rapid transportation to make traveling across the country economical or practical. Lengthy travel was often cumbersome, costly, and dangerous.

The Westward Expansion all started when America made the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. There were many benefits from the purchase for the US that the French didn’t realize before they sold it. The purchase gave the US access to the Mississippi river which allowed for expansion of river trade to the North and South from the center of the US. The port city of New Orleans was bought by the US and its prosperity benefited the US greatly. The US sent Lewis and Clark west to investigate the land they purchased. After their exploration, many people started to take interest in moving West. There were many different reasons why people moved, including a search for a fresh start at life, a chance at starting an economic success through agriculture and

Lilly Fuller-Delmont                                        1/17/18 S.S8                        DBQ Essay                    Per.3 In the mid 18th century settlers moved to the west. Their move brought them more opportunities and a better lifestyle on the frontier. Such as the transcontinental Railroad.

The transcontinental railroad caused a lot of political impacts including uniting divided houses. In the 1850s, the greatest obstacle building the transcontinental railroad was the sectionalism in the American politics: between the North and the South. The biggest barrier in getting the railroad built in the mid-century in America is slavery. Congress had to make a decision whether or not slavery should be allowed in the new territory that was made easily accessible but the transcontinental railroad. Abraham Lincoln, the president, was less known as a great friend of the railroad. President Lincoln’s early support of the railroad was critical, it points to importance that politics held for the project as a whole. During Lincoln’s presidency,

In addition to railroads, Congress passed numerous acts and laws to encourage people to move west. One of the first acts was the Homestead Act of 1862. Which “gave 160 acres of land to anyone who would pay a $10 registration fee and pledge to live on it and cultivate it for five year” (Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, and Williams 502). Passing this law forged a “mass migration of land-hungry Europeans” (Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, and Williams 502), amazed that a country would relinquish millions of acres for free. Between 1862 and 1900, close to 600,000 families made their way west from free homesteads.

The Genocide: Trail of Tears/ The Indian removal act During the 1830s the united states congress and president Andrew Jackson created and passed the “Indian removal act”. Which allowed Jackson to forcibly remove the Indians from their native lands in the southeastern states, such as Florida and Mississippi, and send them to specific “Indian reservations” across the Mississippi river, so the whites could take over their land. From 1830-1839 the five civilized tribes (The Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chickasaw) were forced, sometimes by gun point, to march about 1,000 miles to what is present day Oklahoma.

After the Civil War ended many people were in hope of finding land since population was increasing. Since the West was underdeveloped and uncivilized, many decided to expand the land. First the Louisiana Purchase increased the opportunity of expansion. Then industrialization and the Homestead Act also caused many companies encouraged to move West due to the low cost of land and that the transportation was provided through the railroads. In order to complete such goals, something had to be done with the Natives since it conflicted with their home area.

“In 1820, about 58 towns more than 2500 inhabitants; by 1840, there were 126 such towns, located mostly in the Midwest and Northeast.” The fastest growth occurring in areas were near canals, railroads, and roads because of the easy access of raw and manufactured materials. Toward the later 19th century, the settlers began to move west for cheaper property because the land inhabited near the town built around transportation was getting

The Transcontinental Railroad The completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad was an important event in the United States history. There were many challenges in building it, but after it was finished, it connected the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast. The railroad took three whole years to build, with the help of two railroad companies and thousands of other hired workers.

The Transcontinental Railroad was the first line across the continent. The railroad line stretched from Omaha, Nebraska, all the way to Sacramento, California. This railroad allowed the United States the opportunity to expand westward, as both people and resources would be able to be shipped much faster than before. In 1862 The Pacific Railway Act was passed, which allowed the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad to construct the lines for the transcontinental railroad. On May 10, 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was established at Promontory, Utah.

There were both positive and negative components of westward expansion from 1800 to 1875. By the late of 1800s, the land of the United States was mostly purchased. In seventy five years, the United States continuously expanded westward, which was encouraged by the idea of Manifest Destiny. New land in the United States led to more economic, social, and political opportunities. Gaining more land also led to disputes between the states and wars with other countries. Between 1800 and 1875, America continuously expanded westward through the acquisition of new land; there were both favorable and unfavorable consequences and outcomes of westward expansion.

In between California and the rest of the country were the Great Plains which were not heavily populated so there was no easy way of trade and transportation to the growing western territories. A group of men called the “Big Four” which consisted of Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins, decided what the country needed was a transcontinental railroad. Their company, The Central Pacific Railroad company would hire 15,000 Chinese men to work on constructing the railroad due to the fact that they would work for less than the average American. This made transportation cheaper and quicker than ever